A discussion of TIGHAR's work testing the Nikumaroro Hypothesis on the 1937 disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, hosted by senior archaeologist Tom King.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Artifacts of the Seven Site: "Clam Shuckers"

There’s been some web chatter recently about two ferrous
metal “clam shuckers” found at the Seven Site on Nikumaroro.Here’s some elaboration.

First off, we don’t know that the things were clam shuckers.We suspect
that one or more of them may have been used in a (probably unsuccessful)
effort to open some Tridacna clams
because:

1.1. There are two clusters of Tridacna valves on the site.We call them “Clambush 1” and “Clambush 2” because of a joke someone (Gary
Quigg?) offered when we found them – that the clams were there because
they had crawled up to the site to ambush the Coast Guardsmen from the Loran station.

2.2. Clambush 1 was close to the crest of the Seven
Site surge ridge, roughly oval in shape, with the valves fairly
scattered.Nineteen whole (both valves)
or half (one valve) Tridacna were found in Clambush 1.Seven of the valves were broken, typically with
single breaks across their midsections, shattered into multiple fragments (some of which couldn't be found), some apparently smashed with heavy objects (breakage
patterns radiating inward).Several
small coral rocks suitable as hammerstones were found nearby.

3 3. Of the seven broken valves, three had
unbroken mates; in two cases both valves were broken, and in the other two
cases the matching valve could not be found.Among the broken and non-broken specimens, some are chipped on the hinge
side as though someone had tried to insert a tool to pry them open.

Clambush 1

3.The valves of Clambush 2 were laid out in a rather linear fashion, parallel to the southeast
side of the SL fire feature and about 25 cm. from it.Clambush 2 contained 24 complete clams (both
valves present). None of them are broken or chipped along the hinges.

Clambush 2 under excavation by Lonnie Schorer

4.The first of the two “clam shuckers” was found in
2007 about 10 meters north of Clambush 1; the second, found three years
later, was in the same general vicinity.

5.The tip of the first “shucker” fits in
the wound in one of the Tridacna valves where it appears an attempt was made to open it from the hinge side.

“Shucker” and wounded
Tridacna (U.S. quarter for scale)

6.Analysis by Ric Gillespie has shown convincingly
(to me) that the “shuckers” represent fragments of the steel rim of a barrel
(probably also steel), some 22” (55.88 cm.) in diameter; this is the diameter
of a standard steel drum used to contain fuel oil and a wide variety of other
substances.

7.There is one steel drum on the Seven Site, but
it is of smaller diameter.Fragments of standard
steel drums are found in the colonial village, on the Nutiran mudflat, on the
Nutiran reef, at the Aukaraime Shoe Site, and at the Loran station.They were certainly used by the colonists and
coast guardsmen, and there is photographic and other evidence of their use by
the 1939 New Zealand survey party.There
is also every reason to believe that they were aboard the Norwich City when she grounded in 1929 on the Nutiran reef, exploded and
burned.

So – We can’t demonstrate that the
pointy ferrous objects on the Seven Site were clam shuckers, and we certainly don’t suggest that they were effective clam shuckers, but they were found
fairly close to a cluster of clams that looks very much like someone tried
to shuck by prying on their hinge sides with something whose tip resembled that of the shuckers, and when he or she failed to do
so, bashed them with rocks.

Who might that person be?

·Probably not a colonist; they all had knives with which to shuck,
and their typical documented practice was either to harvest the meat out of a
clam by cutting its adductor muscle while it was still in the water, thus keeping it
from closing, or by laying the clams out in the sun or
next to a fire until they opened naturally (This appears to be what someone did
to produce Clambush 2).

·Probably not a Coast Guardsman.Those we’ve interviewed say they didn’t do
it, but besides this, they had knives that would have been far more effective
shuckers than the barrel lid fragments.

That leaves the putative castaway
as the most likely shucking-attempter.The castaway might not have had an effective knife to apply to the
endeavor, and might not have known that clams would open if exposed
to heat.

If the castaway had experience
collecting oysters and clams in the eastern United States, he or she might have
applied that knowledge to the Niku clams; a recommended practice with Eastern U.S.
oysters and clams is to pry them open from the hinge side.

Where would the castaway get the “shuckers,”
since they apparently did not occur “naturally” at the Seven Site?My guess – which I stress is only a guess –
is that they were part of the Norwich
City wreckage, broken into more or less their present shapes by the
explosive oxidation associated with the explosion and fire, picked up because
they looked potentially useful, and carried to the Seven Site with no
particular use in mind, then applied to the clams of Clambush 1 when the need
to open them became apparent.

Obviously the “shuckers” are not
smoking guns, but in the context of Clambush 1 I think they’re evidence suggesting
– and I stress, only suggesting – that someone not indigenous to the
South Pacific spent time at the Seven Site trying to live off the local fauna.

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About Me

Thomas F. King holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of California Riverside (1976), and has worked since the 1960s in the evolving fields of research and management variously referred to as heritage, cultural resource management, and historic preservation. He is particularly known for his work with Section 106 of the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act, and with indigenous and other traditional cultural places.

King is the author and editor of ten textbooks and tradebooks (See http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-F.-King/e/B001IU2RWK/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1353864454&sr=1-2-ent) as well as scores of journal articles, popular articles, and internet offerings on heritage topics.His career includes the conduct of archaeological research in California and the Micronesian islands, management of academy-based and private cultural resource consulting organizations, helping establish government historic preservation systems in the freely associated states of Micronesia, oversight of U.S. government project review for the federal government’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, service as a litigant and expert witness in heritage-related lawsuits, and extensive work as a consultant and educator in heritage-related topics. He is the co-author of the U.S. National Park Service's government-wide guidance on "traditional cultural properties" (TCPs; see http://www.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/pdfs/nrb38.pdf). He occasionally teaches short classes about historic preservation project review, traditional cultural places, and consultation with indigenous groups, and consults and writes as TFKing PhD LLC. Current major clients include several American Indian tribes and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.